‘Heartbreakers Beach Party’: Mike Campbell Looks Back At A Life Of Making Music With Tom Petty (And A Recently Rediscovered Movie Directed By Cameron Crowe)

Fans of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers—or of 1980s rock music culture in general—have a gift coming their way. For two nights (October 17 and October 20) a lost treasure called Heartbreakers Beach Party is coming to a theater near you . (It will eventually hit streaming if you simply can’t make it either night.) This documentary was originally shot in 1983, it showed on MTV one time in the middle of the night, then it stayed sitting in a drawer ever since.

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Oddly enough, it was the first film directed by Cameron Crowe ( Almost Famous , Jerry Maguire ), so it definitely has some historic value—in addition to a lot of very funny behind-the-scenes footage and some ripping live moments from the Long After Dark tour.

Decider had the good fortune to speak with Mike Campbell , Tom Petty’s right arm throughout his entire career. He was with him from his first roots rock band Mudcrutch as a guitarist, co-writer of many of the best songs, and co-producer, even on Tom’s “solo” albums like Full Moon Fever and Into the Great Wide Open . (There is a whole shelf of literature comparing Tom Petty to Bruce Springsteen, so if you want to call Mike Campbell Petty’s Little Steven, you wouldn’t be the first.)

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After Petty’s unexpected passing in 2017, Campbell filled in for Lindsey Buckingham on tour for Fleetwood Mac (he did, after all, co-write the Stevie Nicks/Tom Petty hit “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”) and now he’s got his own roots rock group The Dirty Knobs . He’s also about to go on tour with the all-star “ Life is a Carnival: The Last Waltz ” show, a tribute to The Band. (“I got a rough setlist last night. I have a lot of songs to learn,” he told us.)

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Our conversation about Heartbreakers Beach Party took place over Zoom, and, yes, he did in fact noodle on the guitar a little bit as we spoke, like a rock star should. This transcript has been edited for clarity.

DECIDER: This sprung-from-the-vaults film is really exciting to me as a fan. You are a guy that’s had cameras in your face for decades—did you even remember this existed?

MIKE CAMPBELL: I knew it existed. I just hadn’t thought about it in over 30 years. I was surprised when they found it. It really captures the band at a certain time. I always liked Cameron Crowe, we had a good rapport. I was real proud of him when his career took off.

A lot of the footage was captured during production of the “You Got Lucky” video. It’s funny, because you don’t learn this until later, so you guys are just introduced in these Mad Max costumes.

That’s just how we lived!

No, The Road Warrior was out not long before and the director said he wanted to borrow the vibe so, “here’s your hat and jacket, Mike.” Then they built a space car and we went to the desert. Back then, videos were the new thing—certainly new to us, we were just musicians not video people. We were laughing through it.

That location, Vasquez Rocks, if you are a Star Trek fan, that’s where Kirk fought the Gorn .

Tons of classic movies were shot there . Watch old movies you’ll see that same rock in the background—and we were aware of that at the time.

The Heartbreakers were known for creative music videos. Most famously the Alice in Wonderland-themed one for “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” which is kinda unexpected for a roots rock kind of band.

It was just part of the record promotion, like it or not. It would help sales and the tour, it was part of the package, but it was nothing that I really wanted to pursue.

Was Tom more keen on it?

I don’t think he was that enamored of it either, really. It was fun at first. And then it was “ugh, we have to make a video ?”

What popped out at you re-watching this movie?

The camaraderie and the joy in the band. We were finally getting successful, and very jazzed up about being together and just having a job.

There’s a scene where you guys get lost at some huge arena on the way back to the dressing room and end up on a tennis court … it’s very This is Spinal Tap .

That was in St. Louis and, yeah, I think Spinal Tap nicked that idea. I heard a rumor that those guys saw the movie and that’s where they got the idea. If I ever meet Rob Reiner I’ll ask him. It was this big venue with a little theater attached to a huge arena—we were in the bowels of it somewhere and they were taking us up and we ended up in the wrong spot. Then we went to this floor, and then that floor, and it was just really stupid . But it’s funny when you look back on it now.

Watching this I was struck with just how soft-spoken and eloquent Tom Petty was. This movie allows him more time than the usual soundbytes to give his answers, and even though he jokes at one point with Stevie Nicks about “being dumb,” you can tell he’s a pretty cerebral guy as well as a rock star.

Just ‘cause we’re from the South don’t think we haven’t read books! We’re well edu-ma-cated!

Nah, seriously, the South can sometimes get a bad rap, but we aren’t all just a bunch of dumb rednecks. Tom was very sharp, very good with words, and an excellent mimic. If he met you, in two seconds he could imitate you. Also, Benmont Tench went to Tulane University and Stan Lynch’s father was a professor. We weren’t bumpkins!

You co-wrote so many of the great songs with Tom—and also others in your career—but I’m curious if it was always the same process with Tom, like “you do X, I’ll do Y” or was each song its own thing?

We had a process, but we never talked about it, it just developed. I would create music on my own, record it as a demo, then if I thought it was good I’d give it to Tom and he’d write words. We rarely sat eyeball-to-eyeball to pull ideas from the air. He’d write his songs on his own and bring them in, then I’d join in or Benmont (Tench) would join in. Then the ones we did together, they would start with me: I would hand him music. It was a good process for us, especially for me, because I like to be alone at the beginning, so I can make mistakes then fix them before anyone hears it.

Of the ones you co-wrote, which is the one where it’s like “wow, we nailed it, this is better than I could have imagined.”

“Refugee.” Because it’s a political song, if you want it to be. It came out good. “Here Comes My Girl” is one a lot of people like. “You Got Lucky.” “A Woman in Love.” “Love is a Long Road,” is a great one. I can’t pick just one, but if I had to I’d pick “Refugee.” That one holds up.

This documentary explores the period where Tom and the record companies got into a lawsuit, had to declare bankruptcy, and there was a whole delay in getting the third album Damn the Torpedos album out. I never knew how serious that all was. At the time were you terrified that “oh, man, this is all gonna’ fall apart, I need to find a new line of work”?

I was never terrified. But I was concerned about how I was going to pay for groceries. I never doubted that I would carry on making music no matter what happened.

It took us a really long time to see a windfall for our work. We started out in Florida, scuffling through topless bars. We made those first two albums making no money, then I had a baby and a wife, and so did Tom, and when I think back I wonder “how did we pay our groceries?” because we were barely getting by. It wasn’t until six months after Damn the Torpedoes came out that I could safely pay the rent and get a car. We were just following the dream. We weren’t sure, but we were determined.

From your own POV, how is touring now versus when this documentary was made?

With my band the Dirty Knobs, we’re touring now at the level the Heartbreakers were on their first two albums. We’re playing theaters, we don’t have a private plane, we have a bus or I fly commercial, but we stay in nice rooms, but not a private plane, so it’s kinda romantic for me. Back in the day, at first, it was driving a van from New York to Cleveland in the winter, then all right, we got a bus, then oh wow, we’re in a plane and a limo takes us to the show. It does get cushier and you aren’t worn out from all the travel before you play. And when I was with Fleetwood Mac recently it was the same thing. So this for me now, it’s kind’ve a return. But I don’t mind flying commercial, I like being with The People.

Decider is a site all about streaming. When you are on the bus, what TV shows are you binging?

My wife and I, we definitely have our evening routine where we settle in with something on Hulu or Netflix. We’re watching something now called The Penguin . It’s really good, it’s with Colin Farrell, but you wouldn’t recognize him. It’s based on the Batman series, really dark. Some of the TV productions these days are better than the movies, and we have a pretty big screen set-up.

I also just watched the old movie Morocco with Marlene Dietrich. And another one with her, The Blue Angel , a dark and spooky drama.

Tom and I used to talk about old movies a lot. We had a really beautiful relationship, but we didn’t talk too much off the tour. But once in a while we’d call one another and talk for hours, just about everything, books, movies, everything. I like art, you know?

Time to wrap it up, but one last thing: you need to know that one of the most annoying things in life is getting stuck in traffic, but if you’ve got the radio on and “American Girl” or “Running Down a Dream” or “Don’t Do Me Like That” comes on, it doesn’t matter, you are singing along at the top of your voice, air guitar, air drums, air piano, you don’t have a care in the world.

Okay, so we did our jobs! And it’s the same for me when I hear one of our songs in the car. I’m very proud of them, and they do hold up. Those are well-written songs that were well-recorded. If I’m in the supermarket and it’s on in the background I think, “you know, that’s good. We did good work.”

Jordan Hoffman is a writer and critic in New York City. His work also appears in Vanity Fair, The Guardian, and the Times of Israel. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle, and tweets at @JHoffman about Phish and Star Trek.

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